The Second Cut Is Slower
by Basmathgirl
Summary: Crossover with Broadchurch. In a sequel to The First Cut Is The Deepest, Donna starts to despair that DI Alec Hardy isn't quite as special as she first thought he was. But they are destined to meet again.


**Fandom:** Doctor Who/Broadchurch

**Characters:** Donna/Alec Hardy, Ellie Miller, OC (mentions Shaun Temple)

**Warning**: this does assume that you watched the beginning of episode 7, shown on Monday night. Then again, this might suddenly turn into AU after next week's episode.

**Summary:** In a sequel to The First Cut Is The Deepest, Donna starts to despair that DI Alec Hardy isn't quite as special as she first thought he was. But they are destined to meet again.

**Disclaimer:** nope, not mine. I'm just having fun here.

**A/N:** I'm obviously a sucker for requests to continue things – yeah, like I didn't want to! ;D

**A/N2:** I have **Michael Dark** to thank for giving me a certain perspective with this first part.

* * *

**The Second Cut Is Slower**

.

It was at 6.30pm precisely that Donna arrived in the hotel foyer and made her way into the restaurant. The attending waiter showed her instantly to her booked table, but there was no sign of Hardy.

She swept her gaze again over the sparsely filled restaurant as she sat down, to no avail. He wasn't there; and assuming he had taken her punctuality warning to heart, he wasn't going to be either.

With a despondent sigh, Donna resigned herself to the fact that he wasn't interested; in both her and her proposal. It wasn't as though he was the first man to have ever turned her down, or the first man to have fought off her advances, but she was hurt by the fact that he was the first man that had seemed genuinely keen to take things further. Not that she normally went around propositioning men to become the father of her future child. In fact he was the only one, if you didn't take Shaun into account; and in that moment she really would rather not.

With a sniff as she perused the menu, she wondered what he was up to. It had been a while since she had seen Shaun, let alone actually bothered to speak to him.

They were just different people, destined to fail in their marriage once that lottery ticket had been cashed in and the money had flowed like the expensive wine they had treated themselves to. Soon his attentiveness and sweetness had started to grate on her nerves. Yes, he had loved her, in his own way; but no, he hadn't adored her passionately, and that was what she had really wanted.

Using a snort of scorn as she considered the faults of her marriage, she had to admit that he hadn't even put himself out to kiss her on her wedding day. What bride and groom didn't kiss as they left the church? Well, her and Shaun, evidently. The writing had clearly been on the wall. She had spent her time showing off her wedding ring to the photographer and Shaun had mentally buggered off.

It had been in her periphery vision, as she flashed her wedding ring, that she had caught sight of Gramps' friend John Smith. Hadn't it been nice of him to show up like that? She had made a mental note to go up and thank him once the wedding photos were done; but he had gone before she could. Oh well. Perhaps she'd get the chance one day.

Tapping an irritated finger nail on the tablecloth in front of her, Donna also wondered if she would ever get the chance to ask Hardy what changed his mind about meeting her. Logic told her there were two basic reasons why he hadn't appeared; he didn't want to, or he couldn't. If it was the latter then there had been a sudden rise in the local crime rate, and he had been called in from being off duty. That's if Broadchurch actually had a crime rate to speak of in hushed circles. It wasn't impossible; just a bit unlikely.

Bugger! There was another headache threatening with that thought. She really didn't fancy eating much now. "I'll just have the soup of the day, please," Donna told the waiter when he returned to her side at that instance.

It was a lonely meal as she sat and consumed her soup as daintily as she could, with only her thoughts for company. And they weren't very good company that evening. Hiding the deep sigh that wanted to escape her lips, she signed the bill and hastily headed back to her room to lie down whilst watching some television.

* * *

DI Alec Hardy was driving along with DS Ellie Miller early the following morning when he spotted a cascade of ginger hair on a woman who had just finished filling her car up with petrol. He slowed to check, and then turned into the filling station when he recognised the woman to be Donna.

"Where are we going?" Ellie demanded to know.

"I have a contact I need to speak to," he testily explained as he parked the car; choosing a position that would stop Donna driving away without him getting the chance to talk to her.

"Since when have you known people to have as contacts?" Ellie queried in disbelief.

But Hardy was determined not to answer that one. "Stay here!" he ordered as he stepped out of the car.

If he was quick he could catch Donna before she returned to her car, he thought. As it was, he got his wish, because she had paid and was turning away from the cashier when she spotted him. He waited by the shop entrance, standing deliberately so that she would have to talk to him, Ellie wouldn't be able to see his face in order to read his lips, and he hid any response Donna gave from observation.

"Hello, Inspector Hardy," she cagily greeted him. "Is that your wife with you?" she asked to rile him.

"She's my partner; Sergeant Miller; and she's married to someone else. We are not involved in any way, before you ask," he brusquely supplied.

Donna merely remarked, "She looked annoyed with you, whoever she is."

"It's normally mutual," he admitted; and gained a small smile. "About last night…"

She immediately interrupted him, "It's okay; you don't need to explain your absence." A wave of her hand followed to dismiss anything he might say. "I saw on the news that there has been an aggravated robbery that might have captured your interest. I also know that you have a mobile phone with my number on it, that you obviously didn't ring; so I'm under no illusions." There was a very slight pause as she took a deep, calming breath. "But I assume you have stopped me to speak business, and I do have information for you."

"You do?" he asked before he could stop himself. He had meant to offer an apology, beg forgiveness, and do anything she wanted; but his professional side came to the fore to mess things up.

"Yes, I recognised him from our files. I never forget a face or data these days. Well, not if you don't count… Anyway, the suspect is a runaway boy from Guilford. And I double checked his name when I saw the CCTV footage. He is Brett Williams, and he is very easily led into criminal activities."

She watched as Hardy drew out his notebook and wrote that down. He looked up at her expectantly. "Will he be on our files?"

There was a nod of confirmation. "His parents reported him missing to the police two months ago."

"Thank you, Ms Noble, for your help," he replied as he noted Miller had climbed out of the car and was standing a few feet away. "I may have to come back to you about… something else later."

Donna flicked her gaze to where Ellie stood. "I'll leave that up to you. You have the necessary details. Goodbye Inspector Hardy." She then sidestepped passed him and headed towards her car, giving a respectful nod to Ellie. "Sergeant."

"How did she get a car like that?" Ellie asked in awe as she saw Donna drive off in her expensive Mercedes.

"That was the former Donna Temple-Noble," Hardy told her as he opened his own car door.

"Really?!" Ellie exclaimed; her interest piqued as she got into his car. "The one from the charity? What's she doing hanging around here? I'm sure I saw her the other day when we were in Weymouth Road. How do you know her, sir?"

"She's doing her job of supplying information," he merely answered, and started up the car. "Let's get back to what we were doing."

Ellie frowned at him as she realised that there was yet another mystery about him to solve.

* * *

Barely any time had passed after Donna had finished consulting the menu for her evening meal when her phone rang. It wasn't exactly unusual for her to receive calls at inconvenient times, but the caller was a rarity: it was DI Alec Hardy calling her.

"Hello, Donna Noble speaking," she answered in clipped business tones.

"Hello Donna, it's me, Hardy. Can I come and talk to you? I have some explaining to do," he almost pleaded.

Despite her hurt feelings, she did have an agenda she wanted to follow through, so what harm could it do to hear his side of things? Plus, he sounded awfully depressed on the phone. "Okay, you can come to my room."

There was a heavy sigh of relief on the other end of the phone. "I'll be there within the next half hour."

"Hardy?" she suddenly thought to ask. "Have you eaten yet?" What? It wasn't as though the man looked as though he got enough to eat, so she felt duty bound to make sure he was feeding himself correctly.

"No, I thought I'd grab a sandwich from somewhere," he confessed.

"One of those listeria laden things from a dodgy shop, no doubt," she sarcastically scoffed. "Be here within fifteen minutes and you can share a meal with me here in the restaurant."

"I couldn't…." he began to politely decline.

"I'll see you in ten," she stated, and shut her phone off before he could refuse. She then turned to the waiter to tell him, "I've got a guest coming within the next ten minutes. I'll have the chicken, and he'll have that too."

"Thank you, madam," the waiter replied; and hastily returned from placing the order to set her table for another person.

Hardy was slightly miffed that he would have to give his explanation in a public place, but his stomach was grumbling, and quite honestly, he was starving! So he ended up joining Donna at her table quite eagerly. He wasn't even upset when she told him she had ordered for the two of them. Was this what it was like to be a woman on a date? That's if this actually could be classed as a date. It felt a bit like being granted an audience.

Fortunately as he sat down their meals arrived, saving him from having to do much more than greet her formally.

His expression was that of a pained man. Donna immediately told him, "Don't mind me; tuck in! You look as though you need it."

He didn't need second telling to pick up his cutlery and start eating, doing with gusto and deep enjoyment. "Ooh, this is wonderful! Good choice," he complimented her.

"I thought you'd like it," she smugly stated. My, it was amusing to watch him attack his food like a starving man. Did he approach everything in the same manner? That brought a slight blush to her cheeks, so she quickly hid it by sipping her glass of wine. "I hope you also like the wine I chose."

"I'm sure I will," he agreed, giving her a faint smile when he looked up from concentrating heavily on his plate. "I wanted to apologise for earlier, when we were on the petrol station forecourt. Miller can be very nosy, and constantly asks me questions; ones that I don't want to answer."

So he refused to call his sergeant by her first name, eh? That was interesting, but not unexpected. "Keeping a professional distance from colleagues is very important; makes things safer," she approved. "It also stops some of them from actually liking you," she then teased him.

The small response from him confirmed that was his intention; the poor bloke. Her need to comfort him started to overwhelm her again, so she distracted herself by fiddling with her napkin before she whispered, "If you are here to just make an apology and then bugger off, I'd appreciate knowing that right now. Otherwise, any other apology can be made up in my room in private."

He gulped self-consciously as he finished the last mouthfuls on his plate. "I would like the private option, please," he mumbled back.

Relief flooded her. Thank goodness this could be salvaged. "Would you like something else to eat first?" she offered.

The sight of the dessert trolley sitting nearby was far too tempting to answer 'no', so somewhat reluctantly, he answered, "I think I have room for a slice of something."

Donna couldn't help thinking he probably had room for the whole thing, but she kept that to herself. "Do you fancy a tart?" she asked cheekily.

"Only in special circumstances," he coolly replied, and risked reaching out a hand to take hers. "Right now, I fancy something very sophisticated with lots of layers to bite through, full of creamy goodness."

Wow! Who knew he could come out with something like that? "Then your wish will be my command," she breathily promised. This evening was getting better and better by the minute.

Shame they had to actually eat food first, she thought.

Hardy playfully answered her promise, "About that…wish…" He sobered, and looked adorably shy for a moment before determination replaced it. "If I become the father of your child, I would want complete visiting and access rights. I'm already missing out on my daughter."

Of course Donna knew all this; it had been part of her extensive research. She had done it partly to talk herself out of asking him, and partly to convince herself what a wise choice her heart had made when it had honed in on him that fateful day when she had spotted him from afar.

"I'm sorry," she softly consoled him, and involuntarily rubbed her thumb across his knuckles. Somewhere deep inside her she empathised completely. "That must be terrible for you. I would make sure you saw our child any time that is remotely possible. My dad was the saving grace in my life, so I'd hate for them to miss out on knowing you."

"Thank you," Hardy murmured gratefully. He gave her hand a squeeze in acknowledgement. "You don't think you could tell my daughter that, do you?" he half joked.

"Let me meet her and I'd do more than that, if you like," she readily offered. "How old is she?"

A flash of pain appeared. "Fifteen."

This was a painful topic for him; that was all too evident. "Ah," Donna gasped knowingly. "That's a horrible age for your parents to be apart. No doubt you are held up as a terrible person in her eyes."

"Tell me about it," he almost whispered.

"If it's any consolation, when her mum has gained a new boyfriend, your daughter will suddenly find you are wonderful once more. I've seen it happen time and time again. Unless you are a complete and utter prat, of course," she ended on a tease to lighten his mood.

"Do you think I am?" he asked, with more than a touch of vulnerability.

"No, definitely not," she said sincerely. "I don't think people are always aware what your motives are, but you are not, at heart, a prat. I wouldn't be here if you were."

That gained her a broad grin that transformed his face from borderline handsome to breathtakingly gorgeous.

Hardy couldn't believe his luck that he had found such an understanding person to play a part in his life. Not only did he find her beautiful on the outside, but her soul was beautiful too. "So you were offering me something good and delicious," he considered, as he turned to look at the dessert trolley again. "Why don't you choose for me?"

"Okay. But you will have to make a choice of your own when we go upstairs," she replied, grinning with delight. Things were finally going to plan.

* * *

They had stood close to each as the lift ascended to her floor, but didn't make a move beyond gliding their hands passed each other. It all added a certain frisson to the moment. If she had deliberately sashayed down the corridor as she led the way to her room, that wasn't so bad, was it? It paid to put on a show, after all.

And this time she had made sure she was completely prepared for him; for almost any request. Now what name should she call him by? No suitable nickname came to mind, but he did rather hate his real one…

As the room door swung silently shut behind them, she asked him, "What exactly were you going to tell me, Inspector Hardy?"

Hardy stood stunned for a moment. How should he reply? He had come to see her for so many reasons. One of them was because he was feeling decidedly lonely, and she had offered somewhere comforting to relieve him of that. Plus, there was the fact that, as one of the officers had described such a situation; he was 'on a promise'. Not that he approved of that label. Donna had made herself sexually available to him, had laid out her reasons, was clearly attracted to him, and was unabashed about it all.

There was also the other matter of him finding her incredibly sexy. As she stood before him with the light filtering in from the window behind her, lighting up her hair with all the elements of the setting sun, there was no other way of describing her except beautiful! He thought she was utterly beautiful; and he couldn't wait to possess her. Not that Donna Noble seemed to allow anyone to possess her; instead it was a case of pretending she could be possessed. If anything, he was the one being possessed in that moment as she wove her spell upon him. All he knew was that he wanted her, and not on a temporary basis.

"I was called out last night, you were right about that," he admitted. "As for my phone, I… I was constantly in the company of Miller; and I wanted to call you so badly, but I… I didn't want to say anything in front of her. Not when we are so new, and this is all so personal."

"I see," Donna allowed herself to say. But hope blossomed that she had not chosen the wrong person. He had not been the idle choice she had made him sound when she had lain out her plan the previous day. She had been looking for the right man for ages, and as soon as she had spotted him the other day she had felt she had finally found the right one. Of course she had sought out information on him online. Who wouldn't if they had the means? But nothing there had deterred her. It could have been dismissed as love at first sight, or even mere lust, and she would have scoffed at anyone else if they had told her similar circumstances; but it felt deeper than that. This felt like destiny; and the more she had learned, the surer she had felt.

"I'm not sure you do see," he stressed, as he edged nearer, trying to judge her body language as he did so. Her stance meant that she could either lash out to strike him hard, or she would lunge at him passionately. He was ready for both. "I am so sorry that I didn't come back; and I wrestled with myself whether I should do this or not. But as soon as I saw you this morning, I knew," he gently stated, and stepped closer still. "I can't keep away. You draw me in like a siren. I am whatever you want me to be."

"And what exactly do you think that is, Alec?" she asked as she reached out and placed her hands on his shoulders.

Involuntarily his hands went to her waist, to slowly bring her flush with his body. So many possible answers raced through his head: 'your donor', 'your lover', 'your future'; or simply 'yours'. That covered everything. But of course he couldn't say that, so instead he kissed her. A tender touch of lips to declare his promise.

She moved her mouth beneath his; to bind the promise with soft undulating movements. His hands responded by traveling up her back to pull her closer, hold her in place and stop her from getting away.

It was easy to encourage her to open up further, to kiss him with their tongues meshing and gliding together. Before long a groan of desperation forced its way out of his throat, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest; she didn't even mock him for it. Instead her attention changed to throwing off his jacket, removing his tie and then tackling the goal of getting rid of his shirt.

"Bloody hell, that's a bad scar!" Donna exclaimed, unthinking, as she finished undoing his shirt buttons and revealed his chest.

"About that," he tried to calmly explain; but obviously it wasn't an easy subject for him. "I had to have a pacemaker put in."

"Oh my God!" she gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth in shock as tears welled up. "Is it safe?" she quietly asked, as another headache threatened to surge over her. "Is it safe for us to carry on doing this?"

He caught hold of both her hands and brought them to rest on his chest. "Donna, I have a condition called arrhythmia; it merely means irregular heartbeats."

She turned her hands and laid them flat on his chest. "You almost died. I can feel it," she sadly stated as she stared at his scar before touching her lips reverently onto where it lay, high on the left side of his chest. With tears coursing down her cheeks, she lifted her head and gazed straight into his eyes. "This was the problem I sensed within you; this suicidal need that has warred and almost claimed you. But you realised it doesn't have to be that way. Oh, Alec! I am so lucky that I found you," she muttered, smoothing her hands gradually upwards against his bare skin until she cradled his face lovingly.

"Why lucky?" he wondered, puzzled by her choice of words.

"You daft bugger! Why do you think?" she admonished him, easing his head forward in order to rest their foreheads together. "I fancied entering the Olympics, obviously."

He chuckled. "What event were you thinking of?"

She brought her mouth up to his ear to breathily say, "The bedroom Olympics; and I'm not talking about the pillow fight section."

"Really?" This was obviously his cue to take her mouth again and continue their earlier kiss that had been rudely interrupted by his past history. "Is there a special uniform we have to wear?"

She deftly undid the belt sitting at his waist as he eased down the zip on her dress. "Oh yes; but I know a good tailor that can rustle us up both a copy in a matter of minutes."

"Donna, I brought my own." He chose that moment to remove her dress by peeling it down slowly off her shoulder. "Oh my," he remarked when he noticed her matching underwear. "You really do look after the details."

"I wasn't Supertemp for nothing," she bragged; taking the opportunity to kiss across his shoulder and up his throat.

He responded by snuggling into her neck and, by holding onto her hips, bringing them together. "I think we need to get rid of our restraints."

They both looked down to see clothing pooling around their feet; and quickly stepped out of it all to gain freedom.

When Donna raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, Hardy hastily removed his socks as well as his shoes. "What else are you going to remove?" he asked.

"I'll let you choose that one." She graced him with a saucy smirk that made his blood run hotter.

Inevitably he went straight for the bra clasp, and eagerly helped shed her bra.

"You're keen," she commented.

"Just weighing up the evidence," he joked; and got swatted for his troubles.

That was when he decided to go for broke; and lunged at her, crushing her near naked body up against his as he locked his mouth onto her lips. He hungrily tasted her whilst duelling with her tongue; sliding and sucking as he went. A deep groan erupted from his mouth as they shared kiss after passionate kiss.

It was becoming too much for him, he had to take a step nearer to taking full possession; so he manoeuvred them backwards onto the bed, keeping her beneath him as they undulated on the cotton duvet cover.

Their desire flared as hands sought out flesh to explore, caress and savour. And all the time she pressed up to him so invitingly that he wanted to take her then and there.

"What was your decision?" she gasped out.

"About what?" he asked in return.

"To use protection or not," she answered; bucking in response as cloth irritatingly met cloth.

All he could hear was the roar of his blood as it rushed to supply certain parts of his body that were becoming extremely and increasingly insistent. "Without," he proclaimed. "I'll go without."

They rolled apart to wriggle about removing underwear; and then they were both finally naked and ready to take the last step.

This was what Donna had been hoping and waiting for, the possible moment of conception with a man she had immediately idolised. So she laid back in her best seductive pose, and reached out for him as she softly ordered, "Come here."

* * *

Panting, he grinned down at Donna's satisfied face.

"Are you okay?" she asked with deep concern.

He instantly kissed her lips. "I'm fine; better than fine!"

"Should I look for your medication? Do you need anything?" she wondered as they separated and cuddled together.

"I only need you," he replied, hugging her close.

"Have you gone all soppy on me?" she playfully mocked him.

A sheepish smile spread across his face. "I'm told I have a tendency to be," he reluctantly confessed.

Well that needed rewarding, Donna decided; so she kissed him. "I like soppy Alec; very much," she assured him. "Will you come and visit me in London?"

"I suppose I will need to keep doing this with you until you fall pregnant," he reasoned out cautiously.

"No, I don't mean just that. This, us, doesn't need to end immediately." Was she mad for considering holding onto him any longer than was necessary? Or was she mad for thinking it would have all ended quickly, with him walking away from her? Proclaiming this feeling she had for him could possibly destroy any fledgling attachment he felt for her in return, scaring him off when she really didn't want to do that. So she went for the emotion she knew he would respond to. "Sometimes this life is very lonely. I need to share it with someone."

"Oh Donna," he whispered as he brought his lips to hers. He understood loneliness, and the need to gain any contact, so well. "I want to try, with you."

"Then we'd better keep trying," she agreed.

They shared a satisfied smile as this soaked in.

A cheeky grin then appeared on his face. "If I said you had a beautiful body…?"

She inevitably swatted his arm as she giggled.

* * *

**A/N3:** there is more of this to come, and the extended adult version is on **AO3**.

**A/N4:** I've decided to post the rest of this 8 part story (or at least I think I'm stopping at 8) under the First Cut title; and have deleted previous postings.


End file.
